RENO — Three people were arrested in Northern California this week in connection with a tax refund scheme in Nevada.
Sabrina Brown, Claudette Ward and Tamika Centers are charged along with Chante Taylor of Reno with conspiracy to file false claims against the federal government.
Taylor is accused of preparing at least 129 false individual income tax returns in the names of people whose identities were stolen. The names allegedly were provided by Brown, Centers and Ward for the 2008, 2009 and 2010 tax years.
Prosecutors say the IRS processed the returns as if they were legitimate and issued at least $973,521 in actual total refunds.
Brown was arrested Tuesday in Stockton, Calif., while Ward and Centers surrendered later in the week in Sacramento, Calif., and San Francisco respectively. Taylor was arrested in January.